When the images of Abu Ghraib hit the media in 2004, those who participated in the systematic torture of Iraqi prisoners were considered part of a gruesome hidden operation, disconnected from military procedure and US policy. Eleven lower-level Military Police and Military Intelligence Corpsmen were court-martialed, with little consequence for their superiors. Through a series of in-depth interviews with guards who engaged in torture, higher-ranking officers, and detainees, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib paints a very different picture. Rory Kennedy’s film reveals that far from the dissenting action of a few, the abuses reflect a broad system of desensitization and unaccountability directly related to policies enacted after 9/11. Asked why they tortured, US MPs said simply, because they were told to. Ultimately, the viewer is left to consider not only the consequences of abandoning human rights in favor of information, a pattern that Kennedy deftly traces back to the highest rankings of American government, but also the disturbing possibility that we are all capable of barbarous acts.  ST